Two years after the European and the Gulf Cooperation Council disclosed their strategic partnership, they passed another landmark by maintaining a high-level meeting on security cooperation and counter-terrorism. All 33 member countries of the two coalitions were observed, with most represented by their foreign ministers.
Security collaboration between the two groups has been born out of need and is growing to fulfil that need. Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission, highlighted at the start of the meeting that: “In times of turmoil and escalating uncertainties, peace and multilateralism are contested in both our regions and we need more than ever to work together to fix the crises, to prevent escalation and support a securer and more stable international environment.”
There was high representation from both flanks for the GCC-EU High-Level Meeting on Regional Security and Cooperation, which was carried out in Luxembourg. This was the first meeting of this nature. While the GCC-EU Joint Ministerial Council has been assembling annually since the signing of the 1988 Cooperation Agreement to debate and decide on all issues related to their collaboration, the Luxembourg gathering was security-attentive.
The Joint Council consented in Muscat to hold a stable and structured GCC-EU regional security dialogue at the level of senior officials and to launch joint working groups when needed, within the framework of this security discussion. This aimed at corresponding efforts on regional and global issues, including nuclear, rocket and drone proliferation; maritime protection; cybersecurity; counterterrorism; terrorism financing, recruitment and principles; human trafficking; drug trafficking; periodic migration; organized offence; and energy security, the security of global food supplies and disaster preparedness and emergency response.
To carry out that determination, EU and GCC experts and senior officials assembled in Riyadh in January this year to map out the security partnership between the two blocs. As a first step, they decided to develop mechanisms for cooperation in five key regions: nuclear nonproliferation, maritime protection, cybersecurity, counterterrorism and emergency response.
The account of events leading to security meetings has been revved by geopolitical events. During a conference in Brussels in February 2022, GCC and EU ministers declared a strategic upgrading of their relationship. At the same time, they assumed a five-year program covering 2023 to 2027 to reflect this modification by including more political and security dialogue. In May 2022, the EU assumed a “Joint Communication” on the strategic alliance with the Gulf; “joint” here means peace between all EU institutions and commitment to the upgrade.
Participants at the Luxembourg conference agreed that the EU and the GCC now share many interests and have connecting views on many topics, making it likely to do more together. With advanced polarization in international associations generally, it has become imperative for the two blocs to partner in managing geopolitical crises, especially Gaza/Palestine, and increasing regional security.
